Shirley Temple Black Best known for her spectacular but short film career as a child star in the 1930s, Shirley Temple Black had a number of careers—at least four. The unique thing about her several careers is that they were all in totally unrelated fields. First, she was a child star in her Hollywood career. She was a leader, board of directors member, and advocate for important charitable organizations. She was a diplomat in the United States Foreign Service and for the White House. Finally, she was a corporate board of directors member in the business world. She demonstrated her talents and professionalism in a number of different fields in each of which she left her mark. Born in 1928 in Santa Monica, California, by the age of three, she had already made her film debut. She was not only apparently a cutely endearing …show more content…
She was one of the most popular film stars of the 1930's, along with such famous names as Clark Gable, Jean Harlow, Greta Garbo, and Carole Lombard. Her film appearances also spawned massive sales in merchandise associated with her, such as dolls, coloring books, toys, and many other items marketed by her name and image. Additionally, however, her career also created gossip, surprising for a child star. The most astonishing of these was that she was not really a child at all but a midget made by “Hollywood magic” to appear to be a child. There were also myths about her suspicious lack of formal dance training, that her famous curly-locked hair was really a wig, and that she wasn't a natural blonde. As she grew older, however, her popularity as a child star waned, and by the early 1940s, after she had made a few film playing older parts, her popularity continued to decline. She saw the handwriting on the wall, and voluntarily retired from the films at the age of 22, ending her first career in